An average year for fruits and a good one for vegetables

According to Ferenc Ledó, president of the Interprofessional Organisation for Fruit and Vegetable (FruitVeB), 2017 was a good year for the vegetable sector and medium one for the fruit segment. Nearly 3 million tons of fruits and vegetables were produced in Hungary last year. The industry is suffering from a workforce shortage and it a great problem that about 30 percent of products are sold in the black market – despite that fact that several measures have been taken to fight the black economy. The president’s view is that only reducing the VAT on fruits and vegetables can solve this problem.

In the last few years there were considerable changes in consumption habits: 80-90 percent of shoppers check before buying where the product comes from. The April frost caused a 20-25 percent loss in yield. Mr Ledó opines that there is great need for a national hailstorm protection system – hopefully it will be ready by the next season – because hailstorms cause a HUF 45-50 billion damage in agriculture every year. In 2017 850,000 tons of fruit was grown and from this apple’s share was 520,000-530,000 tons.

As nearly 70 percent of vegetables grown with open-air farming can be irrigated, yield results were rather good, for instance 120,000-125,000 tons of so-called industrial tomatoes were produced; the sweet corn yield is estimated to surpass 500,000 tons. In 2017 watermelon was grown on 7-8 percent smaller area than in 2016, and 205,000-210,000 tons of watermelon was harvested. Farmers grow forced fruits and vegetables on 3,600-3,800 hectares. Thanks to the technological development, on a smaller area 15 percent more fruits and vegetables were grown using this method. This year’s harvest is expected to be 440,000-450,000 tons. //